Martin's Last Call: Have Porn With Your Free Wireless

December 30, 2008 at 6:50 AM (PT)

Outgoing FCC Chairman KEVIN MARTIN may have made his last offer the rest of the Commission can't refuse: He has altered his proposal to roll out a porn-filtered free wireless broadband service. To allay a wild range of critics and corral more votes, Martin's new version removes the porn ban requirement.

The proposed "lifeline broadband service" with the smut ban was been opposed by such disparate forces as the BUSH administration and key HOUSE Republicans on the right, the wireless industry, and civil liberties advocates on the left "who have all but called the scheme government-sanctioned censorship."

"I'm saying if this is a problem for people, let's take it away," MARTIN told ARS TECHNICA. "A lot of public interest advocates have said they would support this, but we're concerned about the filter. Well, now there's an item in front of the Commissioners and it no longer has the filter. And I've already voted for it without the filter now. So it's already got one vote."

MARTIN wanted the entire FCC to vote on this issue at the DEC 18th Open Commission, but Congress pressured him to cancel the meeting. An audio conference is scheduled for TODAY, but it's not on the agenda, which leaves an Open Commission meeting set for January 15th. That may very well be MARTIN's final formal FCC appearance.

Considering that this could be his swan song, as the OBAMA Administration may soon name a his successor, MARTIN is predictably annoyed at the hesitance of his fellow Commissioners to talk this issue up. "This is an item that has been pending at the Commission for several years, that the Commissioners were originally critical of not having moved forward faster," he said. "Other Commissioners said, 'We're overdue; we've got to do this.' But when an actual item is put forth where you have to make a hard decision, they say, 'Well, I'm not so sure what I want to do anymore'."